Sorry, we can't show this content as your browser does not support iframes.

Perth Wildcats captain Damian Martin to withdraw from Australian Boomers FIBA World Cup squad to focus on NBL finals

Craig O’DonoghueThe West Australian

Wednesday, 7 February 2018 7:30AM

Adelaide blame Wildcats for mid-game brawl

The West Australian

VideoThe 36ers captain Brendan Teys is appealing his ban.

Perth Wildcats captain Damian Martin’s decision to withdraw from the Boomers squad for this month’s World Cup qualifiers was based on giving himself the best chance to perform during the NBL finals, according to teammate Angus Brandt.

Basketball Australia yesterday named the 12-man squad to face the Philippines and Chinese Taipei in Melbourne, with Martin a notable omission. Brandt and Jesse Wagstaff were Perth’s representatives for the matches on February 22 and 25.

Martin played in qualifiers in November but has struggled with the workload in the second half of the season. The 33-year-old played for only 16 minutes against Adelaide last Sunday, continuing his trend of spending significantly less time on court in the second leg of double-headers.

The NBL scheduled a bye for the weekend of the World Cup qualifiers so Martin will get much-needed rest to prepare for the finals as the Wildcats try to win an historic hat-trick of titles.

“He’s disappointed but I think he made a wise decision,” Brandt said.

“I think he made a call on it being late in his career and he wanted to be ready for finals and not overload his body too much. I think it was a tough decision but I think he made the right one.”

Australian coach Andrej Lemanis has stuck with a consistent team in recent months. Brandt is one of seven players who played in both the Asia Cup and the November World Cup qualifiers in Australia.

lllness forced him to watch from the sidelines during the November qualifiers and he said that made him even more desperate to play again.

“I was really happy to make this team so I can play for Australia in Australia. It’ll be great to play in front of an Aust-ralian crowd,” he said.

“The coaching staff of the Boomers are trying to have a consistent core or at least an amount of the same guys from each team. It’s hard to build good team chemistry so keeping a few guys all the way through keeps that consistency.

“It’s fantastic that Jesse got named. He went to the Asia Cup selection camp. I’m really happy that he’s in.”

Meanwhile, Perth’s Dexter Kernich-Drew and Adelaide’s Brendan Teys will today challenge their two-game suspensions for engaging in rough play. The pair were reported during Friday night’s clash at Perth Arena and decided to proceed with a challenge.